


I Like You a Latte

by orphan_account



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, M/M, coffee shop AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-14
Updated: 2016-02-14
Packaged: 2018-05-20 08:12:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5998336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Coffee Shop AU based off a tumblr post that I will link at the end bc spoliers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Like You a Latte

**Author's Note:**

> For the Phandom Valentine exchange

Phil checks his watch for the fifteenth time and sighs loudly as he waits in line. He’s late for a job interview but he can’t skip out on his morning coffee. When he woke up this morning, his coffee pot broke, so he resolved that he would just stop at the closest coffee shop along the way. Little did he know, the closest coffee shop was fifteen minutes in the opposite direction of where he needed to go.

Phil considered skipping the coffee, but he knew if he didn’t have coffee, he would not be a pleasant person in his interview. So he waited. Ten long minutes, he waited. When he got to the front of the line, he was greeted by a cheery brown-haired boy.

“Hi! What can I get for you?” he asked. 

“Can I just get a vanilla latte?” 

“Sure thing! Is that for here or to-go?” 

“To-go please,” Phil answered.

“Alright, can I get your name?”

“Phil,” he replied. “Oh! And do you guys have almond milk?” Phil had almost forgotten that he was lactose intolerant. He was so used to making his own coffee with almond milk that he forgot for a second they probably just use regular milk.

“No, but we do have lacto-free milk,” the boy replied.

“Okay, that will do,” Phil answered. He paid for his latte and stepped to the side to wait for it to come out. Lacto-free milk wasn’t as good as almond milk but it was better for him than regular. Phil didn’t want to end up with a stomach ache at his interview. 

Phil checked the time again. It was 8:02. While he wasn’t technically late, he was late by his own standards. Phil always tried to arrive thirty minutes early to things. His interview was at 8:30, and Phil planned to get there by 8:00. He sighed, it was still a fifteen minute walk to the building. He closed his eyes, telling himself that it was okay and the reason he tried to get places early was for this very reason. Having a delay was okay because he would still technically be on time for his appointment. 

When he heard his name called out, he went up to the counter and took his latte. He heard the cashier tell him to have a nice day on his way out. Phil waved vaguely in that direction in response and walked out the door, latte in hand.  
☆☆☆☆☆

The next day, Phil returned to the same coffee shop. He hadn’t heard back about his interview, but he wasn’t feeling good about it. He wasn’t in the mood to try and attempt his coffee pot at home and remembering the latte from the day before, he returned to the same shop. This time it was closer to 9:00 so most of the morning traffic had already cleared out. 

He took a seat on one of the sofa chairs while he waited for the rest of the line to fizzle out. When it did, Dan got up to place an order.

“Hi! My name is Dan, what can I get for you today?” Phil noticed it was the same cheery boy from the day before. 

“A phone call would be nice, Dan,” Phil said.

“Um, excuse me?” Dan asked, going red in the face. Phil suddenly realised what his comment sounded like, but he hadn’t meant it like that.

“Oh my god, I’m sorry! I mean yesterday I had a job interview and they haven’t called me back yet and I’m getting anxious about it,” Phil stammered turning just as red as Dan. 

“Oh. I’m sorry… Um would you like to order something, or…?” Dan asked.

“Yeah, can I just get a vanilla latte? With extra whipped cream and maybe some almond milk if you have it,” Phil asked. 

Realisation stuck across Dan’s eyes. “Oh, hey! I remember you from yesterday! No, we only have lacto-free milk still. What was your name again?”

“Phil.”

“Phil. One vanilla latte with extra whipped cream and lacto-free milk coming right up!” Dan exclaimed. Phil smiled and as he was turning around he caught the slightest glimpse of a wink. It might’ve been a trick of the light, but Phil was almost certain he saw Dan wink at him. 

Nevertheless, Phil took a seat until his latte arrived. Once it did, he sat back in the same chair facing the counter. He sipped his latte as he watched Dan behind the counter take an order from a girl who just walked in. Dan was cute, but Phil wondered what the probability of him being gay was. Phil remembered seeing a statistic that 1 in 4 people were gay. Looking around the room, Phil counted a total of seven other people. Statistically, that meant there was at least one other person than himself that was gay. Phil hoped it was Dan.

However, Phil finished his latte and let go of his daydream. This wasn’t a movie so that meant Dan was probably straight.

☆☆☆☆☆

Nevertheless, Phil found himself returning to the coffee shop quite frequently. He got a call about his job interview about a week afterwards only to learn he did not get the job. Phil sighed. He was kind of relieved. Yes he needed a job, but he didn’t particularly want that job that he interviewed for. 

After that, Phil became a regular at the coffee shop. He would order the same coffee every day: a vanilla latte with lacto-free milk. And everyday, he brought his computer to search for job opportunities. He put in a couple of applications at places that seemed to interest him a bit more, but each job was a ways away from where he lived. 

After about two weeks of visiting the same coffee shop every morning, he started to talk to Dan on a regular bases. 

“Did you hear back about that one job?” Dan asked one day. The shop wasn’t very busy as it was 11am on a Wednesday. Most people were at work during this time. 

Phil sighed and shook his head, “No, I think I’m under-qualified for that position anyways. I might need to take a few classes at a university or something if I really want to get a job.”

“You know… you could always get a job here,” Dan offered.

Phil looked up from his laptop and felt a blush spreading across his face. “N-no… that’s okay! Really! Thanks, though!” Phil stuttered over his words. The idea of getting to work everyday next to Dan was something Phil couldn’t process at the moment. His crush on the cashier has only grown in the past two weeks. 

“Are you sure? I could talk to my manager. I’m sure we have some opening. You could just work here until you hear back about those other places, right?” Dan pressed. 

“N-no really! I-I… Well actually I have to go now… Uhh, see you later, Dan!” Phil said. He gathered his stuff, got up, and left the cafe quickly. 

“Uh, okay… bye!” Dan said as Phil left. 

Phil breathed a sigh of relief once he was outside. He enjoyed spending his mornings in the cafe with Dan, but he didn’t want to deal with the possibility that he would be within an arm's reach of Dan while working beside him. 

☆☆☆☆☆

After that awkward encounter with Dan, Phil considered finding a new cafe or going back to making his own coffee at home. However, he found himself returning to the coffee shop yet again. 

With his head down in order to avoid eye contact with Dan, Phil made his way to the front counter. I looked up a little bit, but still avoided making direct eye contact. He could tell it was Dan behind the counter.

“Good Morning Phil! Would you like the usual?” Dan asked.

Phil nodded and let out a weak, “Yes.”

Phil paid and went over to his normal seat. He waited for his latte to arrive. 

He resolved in the five minutes it took to get his latte, that he needed to do something about this situation. He had to find out Dan’s sexuality so that he could move on. If Dan was straight, then there was no chance and Phil would finally be able to move on. He would be upset about it, but at least it could be in the past. 

If he found out Dan was something other than straight, Dan was unsure about what he would do. Was he really prepared to come out to this stranger before he came out to his own parents? 

Someone other than Dan brought his latte to his table. He thanked them and took a sip. He risked taking a glance over his shoulder at the cash register. Dan wasn’t there. 

He took another sip of his coffee and realised it tasted different. Surely he was imagining it, but somehow it seemed to taste better than normal. Maybe that was because this might be his last time to visit this coffee shop.

He checked his watch to look at the time, when something caught his eye. Today’s date was February 14th. It was Valentine’s Day. 

Phil suddenly realised why his plan to ask Dan about his sexuality today was not a good one. 

Phil’s thoughts were interrupted when a brown-haired boy took the seat across from him. Phil didn’t know what to say to him, but when he looked up at Dan, he realised he wasn’t the only one avoiding eye contact.

Dan looked bashfully down at his lap. A light pink blush was visible on his cheeks. Phil stared at him wide-eyed, unsure of what to make of the situation. “Did you notice anything?” Dan asked so quietly that Phil was unsure if he had even heard him correctly.  
“Um… well it tastes a little different,” Phil admitted. 

Dan looked up in shock, “Oh yeah! There’s that, but like did you notice… anything else?”

Phil gave him a puzzled look. He cautiously took another sip of his latte. He noted how it still seemed to taste slightly different, but he was unsure what Dan was trying to get him to notice. 

“Okay… it definitely tastes different. What did you do to my latte?” Phil asked.

“I used almond milk today.”

“Oh, cool! You guys finally added that?” Phil asked.

Dan looked away, “Well not really… I um… bought that milk myself. You know… since you’re always asking for it…”

Phil felt his face grow hot, “Dan! You didn’t have to do that!”

Dan swallowed. “Well I know that… but you see,” Dan paused taking the latte out of Phil’s hand. He twisted the cup around and placed it back in Phil’s hand. He pointed at the side of the label that was now pointing towards Phil. “I like you… a latte,” Dan read the words written on the side of the cup in a quiet voice. 

Phil went beet red. This whole situation was unbearable to him. After a couple seconds of silence, Phil found himself laughing. 

Dan squirmed in his seat. This wasn’t the reply he was hoping for. However, Phil quieted down after a couple of seconds and regained his composure. 

“I like you too, Dan,” Phil spoke. “Do you maybe want to go out sometime?”

A smile erupted on Dan’s face. “Yes! I’d love that!”

“Well you know I’m free whenever… I don’t have a job,” Phil said. 

“How about later today? It is Valentine’s Day, you know? I get off around 2,” Dan offered.

Phil smiled widely from ear to ear. “It’s a date,” he said.

**Author's Note:**

> [Based off this post](http://sacred-cows.tumblr.com/post/130818191994/omg-i-just-went-to-get-a-latte-from-my-regular)


End file.
